Otters or Mink by the River Trent.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by n4choman

indeed the otter is a fantastic creature and fun to watch in captivity. there is often reasons why animals struggle to survive in the wild, it is part of evolution and nature. i would however point out that mink are vermin and non-native, otters are bigger and eat and kill things, thats what they do. i wonder why then that 'we' keep reintroducing predators without much care for their prey. i have a visiting otter to our 1/2 acre pond. i have now got to patrol twice a night/morning to protect the fish. just one otter has killed at least 4-5 carp a night upto 5.5 lb that's 18 inces long. that equates to about 50-60 fish since it arrived. it hurts me to see decent fish laying on the bank as if the otter has caught it for fun like a cat with a mouse, some part eaten and those that do escape capture are covered in bites and slashes and will probably die also. if mr. otter ate last years young fish upto 8 inches he would be doing me a favour preventing over population, but instead he will keep returning untill his lovell food supply is depleted... there arent enough fish in the rivers to support them so they will travel several miles to feed. i hear that beavers have been introduced into scotland, i hope the environment can sustain that pest. whatever next: coypu, black rat, wolves???

Its more fun to watch in the wild. Animals dont struggle to survive in the wild its what they are adapted for an infact have more problems in captivity like breeding and depression for example. We keep reintroducing predators because an efficient ecosystem needs both to sustain itself, the predators keep the prey population in check by killing predominantly the old and weak leaving a more healthy gene pool. They will never wipe out prey in a natural situation as when prey numbers decline so do theirs. There are by far enough fish in our rivers to sustain them hence their spread through the country. Our rivers are in a very good condition at the moment. Coypu have never been native so no, black rat are already here. Wolves would be a help in reducing deer populations but are not ethical due to our population and island size. The beaver was native and does provide fantastic habitats for other creatures so is not really a pest, they are far less destructive than Canadian beavers. It seems to me your bitter about your fish being eaten so I suggest you do something to deter the otters, as well as do abit of research about predator prey relationships and native species.

[philgreg]

There are already plans to reintroduce wolves in Scotland. see the links below from the BBC

Wolves could be reintroduced to Scottish Highlands - Telegraph

BBC NEWS | Magazine | The rodent to ruin?

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by n4choman

indeed the otter is a fantastic creature and fun to watch in captivity. there is often reasons why animals struggle to survive in the wild, it is part of evolution and nature. i would however point out that mink are vermin and non-native, otters are bigger and eat and kill things, thats what they do. i wonder why then that 'we' keep reintroducing predators without much care for their prey. i have a visiting otter to our 1/2 acre pond. i have now got to patrol twice a night/morning to protect the fish. just one otter has killed at least 4-5 carp a night upto 5.5 lb that's 18 inces long. that equates to about 50-60 fish since it arrived. it hurts me to see decent fish laying on the bank as if the otter has caught it for fun like a cat with a mouse, some part eaten and those that do escape capture are covered in bites and slashes and will probably die also. if mr. otter ate last years young fish upto 8 inches he would be doing me a favour preventing over population, but instead he will keep returning untill his lovell food supply is depleted... there arent enough fish in the rivers to support them so they will travel several miles to feed. i hear that beavers have been introduced into scotland, i hope the environment can sustain that pest. whatever next: coypu, black rat, wolves???

otters have not been reintroduced (with the exception of some local intros) they have recovered naturally encouraged by legal protection, artificial holts, and cleaner water and recovering fish stocks in the rivers.

Furthermore the otter is a natural part of the british ecostystem , which your fish (in artificially stocked lakes) arent.

and for what its worth your problem doesnt sound like otter predation - I would strongly suspect mink - but either way the best bet to keep them out is an electric fence and punchpacker unity running off a car battery , this will be far more effective than twice daily patrols.

[n4choman]

thanks for your advice. i am sore about loosing fish, i feed the birds but feeding otters i cannot afford. the nearest lake is a mile and a stream runs into that, not much elase in the immediate area. i am sure people envy me as i look out of my bedroom window to see an otter eating fish only a few metres away. i have seen it several times and tracked it in the snow and varified that it is not a mink. to cheer me up last night, as worms sprang up everywhere, i saw about 10 newts, smooth newts and huge crested newts feeding. i will certainly enjoy the advent of spring to see all the frogs and toads, upto 200 in one night although last year about 50-60 lay on their backs with no guts, could be crows at dawn. for the records i live in west suffolk.